Jenkins: Sanders all wet on obligation to river park

The 21-year-old San Dieguito River Park, sometimes called the “Yosemite of Southern California,” is by now too big — and beautiful — to fail.

You can take it to the river bank. The current fiscal crisis that threatens it will not prove fatal.

Somehow or other, angels will step up to close the budget gap. North County’s central park, a 55-mile belt connecting Del Mar to Volcan Mountain, will survive San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders’ cynical desertion of his city’s duty.

The mayor’s reputation up north?

That’s another thing.

There’s history up here.

A half-century ago, San Diego went on an annexation binge to the north, claiming vast sweeps of land — Carmel Valley and environs; inland, as far north as Lake Hodges.

Abracadabra. Thousands of acres of rural land to grow houses and, as a coveted prize, the river water flowing into Lake Hodges.

No longer was North County a remote constellation of cities and towns far removed from the big city. San Diego’s conquest (and Interstate 15) changed the geography of the region forever. From Escondido’s southern boundary, you could hit a golf ball into the city of San Diego. Same thing in Rancho Santa Fe.

By necessity, North County’s stubbornly independent cities and towns had to adjust to the proximity of a swaggering city-state. The results were not always pretty or civil.

With one transcendent exception.

Back in the late 1980s, a swarm of lucky stars aligned: Six government entities — the city of San Diego, the county, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Poway and Escondido — formed a joint powers authority to grow and manage a river park from the beach to the mountains.

Ironically, it was two county supervisors — Bill Horn and Dianne Jacob, carrying water for leery ranchers — who almost succeeded in killing the park in its cradle by threatening to withdraw the county’s financial contribution to the JPA.

Happily, that crisis passed in 1995, thanks in part to San Diego’s leadership. Thereafter, the river park grew by leaps and bounds, leveraging the government contributions into grants and donations. Today, the river park is more than halfway home.

It’s North County’s greatest collaborative achievement.

So what’s San Diego’s stake in the park?

Disproportionately huge.

In the past two decades, according to JPA figures, more than $160 million has been invested in the park, 86 percent of which has gone toward buying or improving land within the city of San Diego. The most popular section of the park — trails connecting the Lake Hodges dam to deep into the San Pasqual Valley — is all city land.

As for direct human enjoyment, consider: 48 percent of those who live within three miles of the river park live in the city of San Diego.

It’s fair to say that San Diego has made out better than any other member of the JPA.

And now it’s saying it’s too poor, too deep in debt, to pay two bits of its annual JPA obligation?

Sanders recently met with North County mayors and Supervisor Pam Slater-Price, among others, to explain his decision to cut San Diego’s $254,000 annual contribution to the river park.

The city is broke, he said. His focus is on preserving city jobs, he said. For the foreseeable future, he’s freeloading in the park.

The river park provides services that improve water quality at Lake Hodges, which the city owns. San Diego’s city attorney has concluded that water funds, including more than $400,000 collected from a golf driving range east of Lake Hodges, can be invested in the park if the park’s water benefit is acknowledged. The city’s Water Department is balking on that key point, leaving the money in the weeds.

You would think a so-called strong mayor could fix this impasse with a strong phone call.

Meanwhile, San Diego’s representatives on the JPA — Councilwoman Sherri Lightner and Councilman Carl DeMaio — are left to twist in the wind, objects of barely concealed disdain among other elected JPA members who have their own tight budgets to balance.

In dark moods, retaliation is being discussed among North County officials.

At least one idea was for the JPA to close the newly dedicated pedestrian bridge across Lake Hodges. A sign could inform hikers and bike riders, most of whom live in San Diego, that their city reneged on its responsibility.

Another measure strikes me as fair and balanced: Strip the city of its vote on the JPA. Let Lightner and DeMaio take notes. No money, no voice.